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Time Management

Work at Home Moms Save Time Cooking With the Ninja Master Prep

by BlondieWrites on May 2, 2010

Work at Home Moms Save Time Cooking With the Ninja Master Prep

Anyone that works at home full time knows that it can often be a chore making time to come up with and cook delicious and healthy meals.  Well, there is help with that!  This wonderful little invention, the Ninja Master Prep, allows us to prepare yummy foods fast and easy. It saves a lot (and I do mean a lot!) of time in the kitchen. In the time it takes you to cut, chop, dice, and mix ingredients together the slow and drawn out way, you can have food already done or almost done using the Ninja Master Prep!  I love mine!  It’s cut down on my time in the kitchen, saved a load of time for me standing and preparing meals, and it’s so easy and so fast to use. If you work full time at home and want to save a lot of time and energy in the kitchen, then seriously get yourself a Ninja Master Prep!

Ninja Master Prep Recipes


As Seen on TV Ninja Master Prep

As Seen on TV Ninja Master Prep

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Ninja Master Avocado Mayonnaise Recipe

1 avocado, skinned and pitted
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon cilantro, fresh
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil

Place avocado, line juice, cilantro and salt in Master Prep Pitcher. Secure top and pulse for 10 seconds until combined.

Open pour sprout on top of Pitcher and pulse the mixture in 10 second bursts as you slowly drizzle in the canola oil in a thin, yarn-thick stream. Combine this process until all of the canola oil has been combined and mayonnaise is dense and creamy.

Cover and store refrigerated for up to one week.

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Ninja Master Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup whipping cream, heavy
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup strawberry, frozen
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine 11/2 c of the milk, whipping cream and sugar, and then stir to dissolve sugar. Fill one 16 cube ice cube tray with the mixture. Freeze for at leate 3 hours, or until frozen solid.

Place ice cream cubes in the Master Prep Pitcher and then add frozen strawberries, strawberry syrup, vanilla extract and the remaining 1/2 c of milk over top. Secure the Pitcher’s top and pulse for 10-15 seconds, until smooth and creamy.

Serve granished with a drizzle of strawberry syrup or fresh strawberries.

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Ninja Master Italian Style Meatballs Recipe

1 lb beef (round or shoulder roast, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs, Parmesan Herb
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, large
2 ounces cheese, Parmesan
2 cloves, garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon oregano, dry
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground

Place all ingredients in Master Prep Bowl. Secure top and pulse for 10-15 seconds, until meat is ground.

Carefully remove blades from Pitcher, and then scoop outr meatball mixture, one extremely rounded tablespoon at a time. Use your palms to form into perfectly round balls.

Cook using your favorite method for cooking meatballs, or bake on a greased sheet pan in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes; until a meat thermometer registers the internal temperature has reached 160 degrees.

Serve over pasta with marinara sauce or on hoagie rolls with sauce and provolone cheese.

For even moister meatballs, simmer them in marinara sauce for 20-30 minutes until cooked through. If sauce reduces too much , add a little bit of water to thin it out(though, you have to love a hearty tomato sauce).

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As Seen on TV Ninja Master Prep

Ninja® beverage/food prep slices, dices and crushes ice with precision. Unique double blade design works fast. 48 oz. pitcher makes several drinks simultaneously. Pitcher includes easy flip spout and no skid base. Switch motor heads for prep to chop, mince, blend and puree fruits, veggies and other food without soggy results. Features easy one touch pulse. Dishwasher safe. Includes 48 oz. pitcher and 2-cup bowl with splashguards, interchangeable power heads, and lids plus a bonus Mini Master Prep. Plastic, metal, 12 x 6 3/4 x 10 1/2″.

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Scheduling Your Time as a WAHM

by BlondieWrites on April 20, 2010

Scheduling Your Time as a WAHM

To be successful working at home, you must have schedules. It’s easy to get sidetracked with the laundry, the cleaning, and the errand-running. But to have a successful business that brings in the necessary income, staying focused on the job at hand is essential.

How can you do that? It’s all about scheduling. Let’s say that again – schedules are good, schedules are essential, schedules will keep your productive at work and in control at home.

Why do you need schedules?

Especially if you are a more creative thinker, scheduling things can seem rigid and unwelcome. You might not like the idea of having to schedule when you get things done, or the idea of planning meals ahead of time. But doing these things actually provides freedom.

When you work at home, you are shoulder to shoulder with the mess, the laundry, and the children. It’s easy to get sidetracked trying to take care of these things. But if everything is on a schedule (even the children, if they are home during the day), you can get more done. You’ll be able to focus on work when you’re working because you won’t get sidetracked thinking about all the other things that you need to get done.

How do you schedule?

Think about the things that you need to get done on a daily or weekly basis. Consider the laundry, the cooking, the general cleaning and the childcare. If you know that you are usually home on Sundays, for example, you can plan to make Sunday laundry day. You don’t allow yourself to do laundry on any other day but Sunday and you stick to that schedule. During the week, you won’t get sidetracked folding laundry.

Planning menus is essential. If you are the primary cook in your house, you must know what you are gong to cook each day or at the end of your workday, you’re going to end up in the car in the fast food lane. Since most women choose to work at home in order to be more available to their family, working at home all day and then providing takeout is hardly a step above.

Instead, plan a week’s worth of menus at a time. Ideally, you will plan a month’s worth of menus, but you can start with a week. Buy all the groceries you need for the week and even clean and cut veggies, put meat in marinades and measure out rice ahead of time. When you close up your work shop for the day, you can easily get a simple meal on the table because you were organized enough to get some prep done ahead of time.

To be efficient in work, it’s best if you just work when you’re working. That means don’t get sidetracked with paying bills or ordering books for your child’s book collection. Save those things for evening time, when you are more focused on home endeavors, or for your breaks.

Take breaks

On that note, be structured enough with your time to take breaks. Think of yourself as working in an office. You might head to the break room for a cup of coffee and on the way, have a brief discussion with a coworker about a party you both attended the night before. You might take another break later in the day and make a phone call to your child’s teacher.

If you think of your work at home life in a similar fashion, you can quickly see the results of your structured time. Take regular breaks and during that time, you can send a quick email to a friend or send a text to another. You might make that book order or that phone call. A few minutes later, you return to work just as you would if you worked outside the home.

Get started right

Finally, start each day in an organized fashion. Make sure the breakfast dishes are done, that the beds are made and the house is generally straightened. Sit down to a clean workspace. As you start your work for the day, you’ll have a sense that everything is in order and you can feel at peace focusing on your work needs because there are no other pressing needs you must worry about right now.

Structuring your time as a WAHM might seem like one more thing you must take care of, but doing so will actually free you to focus better at work and at home, even when those worlds intersect.

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Work at Home: Don’t Get Overwhelmed

by BlondieWrites on March 8, 2010

Work at Home: Don’t Get Overwhelmed

When working on a big project, it’s easy to look at it and think “there’s just no way I can do that”. But a big project becomes a lot more manageable if you break it down into smaller pieces – you just have to know how to divide it up.

Before you dive into breaking up your project and making a plan, you need to figure out exactly what needs to be done and when the project needs to be done by. This may be very easy if your client has a clear idea of what they want and a solid deadline, but they may be more flexible and want you to fill in the blanks, it which case this might take a bit longer.

Either during or after figuring out your full goal and deadline, break the job down into exactly what needs to be done. Break the job into small pieces. Don’t worry about the order yet, just make sure you have a list of all the tasks involved. Also make sure to put next to each tasks who needs to be involved and what tools and equipment will be needed to complete it.

The next step is to organize all the pieces into an order. You can do this based on several criteria including:

* Client needs. No matter what your preferences, to run a successful business, you need to put the client first. If your client needs certain parts by certain dates, then that’s going to be the first determinant of your schedule. Once that is decided, you can fill in the other blanks from there.

* Chronological considerations. While certain parts of projects can be done in any order, some activities require other portions to be done before they can be finished, or sometimes even started. Once you are done organizing things by firm deadlines, they can be ordered in this way.

* Availability of people and tools. Generally, you’re going to need certain employees, outside contractors, specific equipment, and other items. These are likely going to be different for each part of the project. Organize your timeline based on who is needed for each part. For example, if you need a certain contractor for several steps, it’s easier to do those steps one after the other instead of spreading them apart. And if a person is working on a part of the project that will take up all their time, they obviously can’t work on another project at the same time.

Once you have a general order set up, you’re ready to set up a more specific timeline with dates that specific parts of the project need to be done. Unlike the previous step, this one may be more difficult (and you may have to redo the last step). For your timeline, you need to take into account not only when things are due, but when people and equipment you need will be available.

Once you have your final plan, you’re ready to get started. But, don’t let you’re planning be done there. We all know that nothing goes exactly as planned. Re-evaluate your plan every so often to make sure it still lines up with client expectations and how things are going. That way there won’t be any surprises later on.

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Work at Home: Everyone Needs a Day Off

by BlondieWrites on March 8, 2010

If you want to get stuff done at work, you need to take breaks. Our brains and bodies aren’t meant to go non-stop. The longer you go without taking a break, the slower you’re going to be working. By taking breaks, you’re going to increase your productivity and probably get more done in the long run. Occasionally, you’re going to need a day off, or even a full vacation.

When you work in a regular office, you have specific vacation time that you can take to get out of the office. When you work at home, it’s easy to not only skip vacations, but also to work through weekends and holidays too. If you try to take a day off at home, you’ll often end up working through your break. To really get a break, you need to get out of the office and the house.

You’ve probably heard of people or media outlets talk about office burnout. This is when you get so stressed out at work, you just don’t want to do it anymore. You’re tired, angry, and disinterested in your work, or sometimes anything else. This not only decreases your productivity, it also can be dangerous to your health.

Don’t have time to take off? You’ll get too far behind on your projects? Before you write off taking a break, sit down and think about why you started working at home to begin with. Chances are it had something to do with your family. Whether it was to make more money for them or to spend more time with them, it’s probably about them. If you work yourself so hard you’re having physical and mental problems, how is that helping your family?

When we’re used to keeping going and going, it’s hard to figure out what to do on a day off. However, there are plenty of things you can do for any interest. Like learning? You can go to a local museum. If you like nature, go to your local zoo or park. If you prefer adventure you could take the family canoeing. If you just need to relax you might look into your local day spa. There are endless possibilities to fit every personality.

Just because you take a day away from the office doesn’t mean you necessarily need to stop working. One great way to do this is to go to a seminar. The beauty of seminars is not just that you meet new people and learn things, it’s that they’re often in fun, sometimes exotic places. You can build useful business relationships, learn new techniques and ideas, and have a relaxing vacation all at the same time. If there are no useful seminars, you could just go on vacation with someone in your field. You can brainstorm, trade ideas, and relax at the same time.

The important thing to remember is that if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else. Taking the occasional day off is a great idea to recharge and refresh yourself so you can get back to being the best version of you.

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Work at Home Internet Marketers: How Managing Your Time Can Save You Time

by BlondieWrites on February 6, 2010

Do you rely on your skills as an internet marketer to generate income? You may sell your services to others or use your skills to drive traffic to a website you monetized. Regardless of how you make money as an internet marketer, you must not only have good marketing skills, but good time management skills. Why? Because managing your time can save you time.

Managing your time can save you time. That sounds like a neat and catchy phrase, but is it really true? Yes it is. Unfortunately, many individuals look at good time management as nothing more than a useful skill. Yes, it is, but it can be so much more. It can be transformed into a time saving and moneymaking tool. How?

An important component of time management is knowing how your time is spent. For example, how do you market a website for yourself or a paid client? Do you submit articles to directories, submit websites to directory lists, or you buy advertisements? If so, you are on the right path, as you are getting work done. But, are you using your time to its fullest extent?

One of the many pitfalls of working as an internet marketer is that you work from home and on the computer. There are many benefits to doing so, but many cons as well. One of those being rampant distractions. Every time you turn around, you may find a distraction. These distractions could include an incoming phone call from a relative, a sink full of dirty dishes, an interesting website you found online, or computer games. Are you avoiding these distractions, eliminating them as an issue, toning them out, or falling victim to their allure? If falling victim to their allure, you are not making full use of your time.

But wait! Above, you stated that you are getting many internet marketing tasks done throughout the day. Yes, this is good, but you are still not making full use of your time. Even if you send an email to a family member, you are wasting time. It doesn’t matter whether you spend 30 seconds or three minutes sending that email, it is still wasted time.

When your workday involves more than just working, you get less done. By eliminating distractions and improving your time management, you can get more done. This is nice, but look at it from an opportunity standpoint. When you finish your to-do list quicker, you can do something else. If you are an avid internet user, your newfound free time many be spent focusing on researching new internet marketing tactics, but it could also be spent with your friends or family.

In addition to saving you time, properly managing your time can also help you generate income. In fact, it can prevent you from losing money. When an internet marketer, you generate income by either selling your service or marketing a product you sell. Regardless of which category you fall into, time management is vital to your success and your high earnings. By eliminating distractions and doing nothing but work during business hours, you distribute more links over the internet and complete more paid projects.

In short, time management is more than just a nice skill to have. When properly used, it can be a moneymaking and time saving tool.

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Home Business Time Management Tips

by BlondieWrites on January 15, 2010

Learning to master time management can make or break your home business. In the early days of your home business, you will still have a lot to learn and as you fill orders, work with customers and businesses; the hours can fly by very quickly. You will discover that there are not enough hours in a day to complete all of your daily tasks.

Efficiently managing your time will help you to create order out of chaos. If you wake up and simply start moving things around without some sort of plan in place, you can easily forget important jobs that need to be completed forget orders, neglect to call back clients and lose customer confidence in your fledgling company.

Plan Ahead

Have a plan in place such as a daily schedule. Follow up that schedule with a weekly schedule that fully covers all of your daily tasks. With this plan in place, you can quickly take stock of your time to figure out what needs to be done. This will help you to achieve your goals by completing important tasks first, and getting through simple tasks with time to spare. Get into the habit of checking, editing and updating this schedule as last minute plans may arise.

This plan will allow you to get your work done without creating a backlog because you accepted too much work in a short amount of time. When new requests come in, you can look at these schedules to see if you have the time to spare or if you should turn down the job due to lack of time. It can be hard to turn away new business or repeat offers but if you accept more work than you can complete in a comfortable amount of time, you will disappoint clients who will go elsewhere when they have new jobs.

Start Business Early

Some people will create a home business to sleep late and work whenever they want to. However, this is not likely to happen. If you sleep all day, no one is running your business and it will not be successful. If you have family as well, getting up early will allow you to take care of them and send off in the morning. You can then shower, eat breakfast and head off to your home office awake, refreshed and ready to work.

Separate Family and Business Life

Spending more time with your family may be one reason that you decided to open your own business, but you will have to keep the two separate to appear more professional and to keep everything organized. If you have young children, keep them away from your home office if possible. If you allow them to play in this room while you are working, they may feel that they can enter it when you are away. This can lead to ruined or lost paper work, schedules and important tasks that you need for your business.

Separating business and family is also a good way to help you to relax and get away from work. When you have completed your tasks for the day, you can simply close the door and go spend time with your family. This is hard to do if your computer and business is in an area that is accessible to the entire household. You want a personal space that you can shut away from the outside world when you are working and away from your personal life when you want to get away from the home office.

Set Priorities

If you do not have your priorities in order, you can end up doing a lot of work and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Completing a large amount of work one day, won’t help you if you have forgotten to complete an important and time sensitive job because you did not schedule your time correctly.

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Easy Time Management Tricks for WAHMs

by BlondieWrites on December 29, 2008

Many people assume that work at home moms have it easy; however, if any of those people have ever lived a day as a WAHM they would know it isn’t so simple. There are children to take care of, a house to clean, a dog to walk, groceries to buy, dinner to cook and dishes to wash. Oh, and then there’s that business to work!

It may not be easy, but it isn’t impossible, either. By using some simple time management tricks, a WAHM can find time to “get it all done!” One thing every WAHM should have is a planner. Schedule your family time first! Then schedule in the time you are going to work your business. Once you have your “work time” scheduled, make it a priority to stay focused on your business during those hours. It is very easy to procrastinate when you are a WAHM.

If your work requires you to do lots of different tasks, try to group similar tasks together. For instance, if you are in a direct sales business and you have a team under you, designate one day to be your “training day”. Instead of helping various team members throughout the week, schedule all of your mentoring sessions for one day. Set aside an hour in the morning and an hour in the late afternoon to respond to email and/or return phone calls. By scheduling that time in, you will find that you are able to get more work done and feel less scattered.

You might also consider outsourcing some of your activities. If you find that you are spending too much time on responding to email, returning phone calls, or updating your website, hire a virtual assistant to do those tasks for you. This will free your time up to work on your business, and by spending more time on the parts of your business that actually bring in money, you will be able to increase your profits.

You can also save time by setting aside a block of time each week to do your “regular” errands, such as grocery shopping. If you plan your meals for the week and go to the grocery store once, you will save lots of time during the week by not taking those daily “quick trips to the market”. And while you are planning your meals, try to schedule a few “cook once, eat twice” days. For instance, you can plan on having spaghetti on Monday and tacos on Tuesday. So, on Monday, brown the hamburger you will need for both days. On Tuesday, half of your work will already be done. And if you are making a meatloaf or lasagna, make two and freeze one for later.

Most importantly, do not feel as if you have to do it all by yourself. You are not a super hero. If you have a spouse or significant other, ask them to chip in on household chores. Children love to help out, and depending on their ages, there are multiple things they can do. And when it is all said and done, don’t forget to take out some time for yourself. Everyone needs a break– WAHMs included!

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